In a report published Friday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch reiterated its Underperform rating on Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD), but lowered its price target from $19.00 to $17.00.

BofA Merrill Lynch noted, “Smithfield is expected to report F1Q13 results on Monday, September 4th. We are lowering our F1Q13 EPS estimate from $0.57 to $0.44 primarily due to lower Hog Production profitability. Our F1Q13 Hog Production profit/head forecast is lowered from $15/head to $7/head, as hog prices were lower than expected during the quarter. Hog prices were impacted by weak domestic demand, increasing pork cold storage levels and slowing export demand. We are also lowering our F13 EPS estimate from $1.90 to $1.70, due to lower hog prices and higher corn prices. Hog futures prices for the next several months have declined due to herd liquidation as a result of the spike in grains. Our Hog Production profit forecast for F13 is lowered from $6/head to $0/head. We are slightly raising our F13 Fresh Pork and Packaged Meat profit forecasts as a result of lower input costs. Our Fresh Pork profit forecast has increased from $3/head to $4.5/head, while our Packaged Meat profit forecast has increased from $0.152/lb to $0.157/lb.”